sashaw
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2010
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After being quiet for a year, Sunrise HIFI introduced their new earbud Charm 3. For their enthusiasm on earbud, their previous products, such as, SWD2 and Feeling 2 were very successful. However, many fans were not satisfied by the look of them, since the products were using common shells. By hearing from all the feedbacks, Sunrise gave up on the cheap common shells and introduce the Charm 3. Luckily, I got my hands on a pair of sample. The Charm 3 came without any package, just the earbud itself. And I would like to thank Sunrise for their generosity and share my review for all of you.
The internal product code for Charm 3 is SR80, it will be priced around $50-$70 USD to fill the gap between SWD2 and Feeling 2.
The look and the build
As I mentioned, Sunrise gave up the cheap shells and introduced a new look for Charm 3. The new design mainly uses metal frame in combination of flat cable. As per photo, the earbud body and the handle are two separated parts hold together with one nail. It allows the earbud to tilt for certain degrees for wearing comfort. Behind the earbud there is a hole for sound tuning. Inside the shell, it’s their famous 14mm titanium diaphragm driver units. Two flat cables were waved through the handles and joins at a black plastic nob. At the end of cable, it’s a gold coated 3.5mm straight plug. The total length of the cable is 1.2 meters and it will come with blue or red. From the overall look and experience of couple days use, the build is very robust. The flat cable really works to avoid the tangling. In detail, there are couple of “thorn” on the plastic joiner and the 3.5mm plug. However this is a sample product, I hope Sunrise will fix that in their retail production. Overall, the build is definitely a thumb up for earbud around $50-$70.
Specification
Driver unit size: 14mm
Impedance: 32 Ω
Sensitivity: 110dB±3dB
Frequency response: 20 ~ 20000Hz
Cable length: 1.2 M
The sound
From my experience with Sunrise products (SWD2, Feeling 2), their titanium driver has a soft spot on the bass department. For Charm 3, I can tell that they have put in effort to improve the bass. Comparing to previous products, the bass of Charm3 goes deeper, stronger without compromising the quality and detail. The bass of Charm 3 still maintain a nice structure, unlike some earbud, the bass just feel like punch on pile of cotton. Of course, the punch and the quantity of bass is still not as good as YUIN PK1.
The treble is always the sparkling point of Sunrise’s titanium driver. It is very natural, transparent without much rolling off. The waves of detailed treble really satisfied my with some new age musics. After 50 hours of running in, I couldn’t hear any hiss or breaking sound. Personally, I am very enjoy the treble of Charm 3 and I would describe it the same way I said about HIFIMAN RE0.
The users of Feeling 2 usually describe the mid is too flat without any coloration, whereas the SWD2 gives a forward and warm mid. The mid of Charm 3 is closer to SWD2, but not as thick and warm. It is quite well balanced. I can not define whether Charm 3 is suitable for vocal, rock or classical. It is somewhere in the middle of all these and brings them to a certain level. There were no surprise and disappointment. I guess Sunrise would like to introduce it to whom listen to various music styles.
Overall, Charm 3 provide a natural, transparent and detailed sound. It gives an open soundstage with great separation. It doesn’t matter whether I amp it or not, there was no disappointment.
In conclusion, the new body design, the improved bass and the listening experience, I would give Charm 3 a 7.5 out of 10. It will not give a surprise on certain type of music, but you will not be disappointed no matter what you listen to or how you drive it. For its price ($50-$70 US), I believe the Charm 3 will be a competitive product in the market.
Testing gears:
Google Nexus One
Sony NW-HD5 + Meier Audio Stepdance
The internal product code for Charm 3 is SR80, it will be priced around $50-$70 USD to fill the gap between SWD2 and Feeling 2.
The look and the build
As I mentioned, Sunrise gave up the cheap shells and introduced a new look for Charm 3. The new design mainly uses metal frame in combination of flat cable. As per photo, the earbud body and the handle are two separated parts hold together with one nail. It allows the earbud to tilt for certain degrees for wearing comfort. Behind the earbud there is a hole for sound tuning. Inside the shell, it’s their famous 14mm titanium diaphragm driver units. Two flat cables were waved through the handles and joins at a black plastic nob. At the end of cable, it’s a gold coated 3.5mm straight plug. The total length of the cable is 1.2 meters and it will come with blue or red. From the overall look and experience of couple days use, the build is very robust. The flat cable really works to avoid the tangling. In detail, there are couple of “thorn” on the plastic joiner and the 3.5mm plug. However this is a sample product, I hope Sunrise will fix that in their retail production. Overall, the build is definitely a thumb up for earbud around $50-$70.
Specification
Driver unit size: 14mm
Impedance: 32 Ω
Sensitivity: 110dB±3dB
Frequency response: 20 ~ 20000Hz
Cable length: 1.2 M
The sound
From my experience with Sunrise products (SWD2, Feeling 2), their titanium driver has a soft spot on the bass department. For Charm 3, I can tell that they have put in effort to improve the bass. Comparing to previous products, the bass of Charm3 goes deeper, stronger without compromising the quality and detail. The bass of Charm 3 still maintain a nice structure, unlike some earbud, the bass just feel like punch on pile of cotton. Of course, the punch and the quantity of bass is still not as good as YUIN PK1.
The treble is always the sparkling point of Sunrise’s titanium driver. It is very natural, transparent without much rolling off. The waves of detailed treble really satisfied my with some new age musics. After 50 hours of running in, I couldn’t hear any hiss or breaking sound. Personally, I am very enjoy the treble of Charm 3 and I would describe it the same way I said about HIFIMAN RE0.
The users of Feeling 2 usually describe the mid is too flat without any coloration, whereas the SWD2 gives a forward and warm mid. The mid of Charm 3 is closer to SWD2, but not as thick and warm. It is quite well balanced. I can not define whether Charm 3 is suitable for vocal, rock or classical. It is somewhere in the middle of all these and brings them to a certain level. There were no surprise and disappointment. I guess Sunrise would like to introduce it to whom listen to various music styles.
Overall, Charm 3 provide a natural, transparent and detailed sound. It gives an open soundstage with great separation. It doesn’t matter whether I amp it or not, there was no disappointment.
In conclusion, the new body design, the improved bass and the listening experience, I would give Charm 3 a 7.5 out of 10. It will not give a surprise on certain type of music, but you will not be disappointed no matter what you listen to or how you drive it. For its price ($50-$70 US), I believe the Charm 3 will be a competitive product in the market.
Testing gears:
Google Nexus One
Sony NW-HD5 + Meier Audio Stepdance
